No Steam Machines For You (Until 2015)

By Sean Michael Kerner | May 28, 2014

From the 'Run Steam OS Linux Today' files:

The ultimate Linux gaming machine - aka Valve's Steam Machine won't be available until 2015. That's not good news.

The Steam Machines effort is a Linux powered gaming machine that could revolutionize console gaming and take on Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox, if it ever gets out the door. Valve will have multiple hardware vendors partners building Steam Machines, but that's not the problem behind the latest delay.

The problem is with the controller.

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We’re now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.

That said, Valve is running Steam OS as a (mostly) Open-Source project, so Linux users can download the system and run it on their own hardware with the Steam client today. The Steam Machine will 'just' be a packaged/hardware optimized offering and hey that controller will be a big piece of the whole story too.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist